Former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki pulled off an incredible sundown escape in the second round of Wimbledon on Thursday, saving two match points en route to a 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 victory over No.30 seed Leylah Fernandez.

"This is obviously a great win for me and a very hard-fought win," Wozniacki said in press. "I'm just thrilled to be out there and competing against the best players in the world."

Contesting her first Wimbledon main draw since 2019, Denmark's Wozniacki dealt with a late court change as well as the pair of match points, prevailing over the Canadian after 10:00 p.m. local time in England.

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The match was suspended at 3-3 in the third set due to darkness on Court No.12, and restarted an hour later under the roof of Court No.1 to complete the day's play. It took Wozniacki 2 hours and 19 minutes of on-court action to reach the Wimbledon third round for the ninth time.

Wozniacki will next face 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, in their first meeting. No.4 seed Rybakina also had to battle to a second-round win, eventually beating German veteran Laura Siegemund 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in their second-round showdown on Court No.2.

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Danish comeback extended: Wozniacki, the 2018 Australian Open champion, is making her Wimbledon return after missing the last three editions. Wozniacki was off tour for maternity leave for over three years until her comeback began last summer.

Wozniacki is a two-time Eastbourne champion on grass, but she is yet to make a Wimbledon quarterfinal despite reaching the second week on six separate occasions. On Thursday evening, Wozniacki moved a step closer when she took the first set from Fernandez.

However, Fernandez brought her own strong grass-court form into their match, coming off a run to last week's Eastbourne final. Fernandez broke Wozniacki's serve three times in the second set as she leveled proceedings.

After the Court No.1 restart, Fernandez continued to go after the Wozniacki serve. Fernandez held two break points at 4-3 and two more at 5-4 — the latter two doubling as match points.

However, Wozniacki wriggled out of danger both times, eventually hitting back-to-back forehand winners to hold for 5-5.

A grueling game followed, where Fernandez boldly saved five break points. However, a wide Fernandez miscue gave Wozniacki a sixth break point of the game, which the Dane converted for 6-5 after a Fernandez backhand flew long.

Wozniacki served out the match routinely to claim the hard-fought win. The result could not have been much closer — Wozniacki won 100 total points in the match to Fernandez's 99.

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Rybakina gets through: Earlier, Rybakina had to fight to keep her streak of Wimbledon quality finishes alive, needing 2 hours and 12 minutes to oust crafty Siegemund, a former Top 30 player currently ranked No.72. 

"Today was a tricky opponent, and I was not playing the best," Rybakina told the press. "But it's good to win even if the day [and] the game is not going your way. So I think, as I say, every match is going to give more confidence."

Playing in her fourth Wimbledon main draw, Rybakina has yet to lose before the Round of 16 when she makes it onto the big stage in London (she did suffer a qualifying loss in 2019). Rybakina is now a terrific 16-2 in Wimbledon main-draw matches.

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Rybakina had 10 winners to Siegemund's two in the opening set, but the German charged back in the second set. Siegemund blocked back a passing winner off a huge Rybakina forehand to break for 5-3, then saved a break point in the next game before leveling the match.

Rybakina quickly took control in the decider by slamming a return winner to break for 2-0. Rybakina had to get through one last tough test at the end, facing four break points when serving for victory at 5-3, but the former champion prevailed to clinch her third-round spot.

This year's ace leader, Rybakina added five on Thursday to raise her total to 272 for the season.